Are You Complimenting People?

Watch "Complimenting Strangers"   http://youtu.be/3PxYSExi3Rw (copy that into your browser)

Ok, so cheesy video, but how much time do you spend complimenting people? I find as a leader and a minister much of my time is spent figuring out how to build people up. The Bible calls it speaking life in Proverbs 18. You literally have the ability to speak life, speak Holy Spirit given words into people that empower them, bring them joy and closer to God. 

Or you can just say whatever comes out of your mouth. Wasted words, or worse, what Proverbs 18 calls speaking death. 

Complimenting people takes work. There is a difference between flattery and genuine positive speech, and people know that. Finding positive attributes in men and calling to them, drawing them out and encouraging them to  used on them takes work. In the video linked to this article, these people are just saying sort of meaningless generic compliments, almost like pre canned pick up lines. That's not easy to do either,  people aren't used to being built up, being complimented. Often if you do, they are jaded, and say something like "OK what do you want now?" We tend to call it kissing ass rather than what it is, godly speech. 

Many people are hurting. Many people suffer. Daily life is a struggle for many.  The stats on the percentage of the population suffering from social anxiety, depression and loneliness are staggering. Speech is so negative, so rude. We cut and slice with our tongues. We wound and hurt people.  We drive them far from the Father when we wear His name, and our speech causes pain. Proverbs 12:18 The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Genuine compliments and positive speech take work.  First, you've got to have dealt with YOU. If you're so wrapped up in your own problems, or just talking about yourself and what's going on with you, you'll never hear or notice what's going on with anyone else.  The devil can keep you so wrapped up in yourself that you miss listening to others or hearing what their struggle is. 

Second,  you have to find what genuinely matters to others. It might be their shoes on their motorcycle that open a door for you to show genuine interest in them, and give them a compliment. The compliment may just be that you noticed. 

But even more deeply, recognizing the traits they have that are important to them,  or better yet,  the traits that will empower them to serve Jesus. Are they a good leader, do they speak well, are they quick with a kind word, do they make people laugh and put them to ease? When you take a moment to let them know you've noticed it,  they can be more aware of how they can serve the Lord. More aware of what strength they need to build on to advance the kingdom. 

You might say "James this sounds like a lot of humanism and vanity. What's the point?"

I don't know how you grew up,  but some people didn't have a dad.  Some people aren't used to having a man say anything positive to them or speak into their lives. Some people have been abused, wounded and broken down. Christians sometime act like they are supposed to run up to perfect strangers and wallop them over the head with criticism and opinions. But if you want to truly minister to people you have to gain their ear first. Some people are just waiting for a touch from the Father. 

And that touch may just be a compliment from you.

James Disciple Johnson 
Natl President and Founder 
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club 

Are You Complimenting People?  http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/are-you-complimenting-people.html

DEPTH CHARGE 2015

DEPTH CHARGE 2015

I've been praying and meditating on God's word to Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club for 2015. For our first few years we sought breadth. Perhaps selfishly or for reasons of pride, we wanted to grow. We grew across America and elsewhere. Last year the 2014 word was Depth. We wanted to see relationships deepen across the country. We asked bros to be reaching across state lines especially to build stronger relationships with Disciple bros outside their charters. The challenger program was part of that. Rather than breadth of size,  we wanted roots, deep conversations. We've gotten there. If you are a hangaround and up I bet you speak to Disciple bros in another state almost weekly if not daily, and experience the same depth with them that you do with bros in your own charter. 

2015 is the year of DEPTH CHARGE. In 2014 we grew in numbers, and your relationships grew. Now it's time for YOU to grow deep, and recharge Spiritually. It's time to take the focus off the mite in the eye of others, and drop a depth charge on the beam in your eye. Matthew 7:1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

It's time to deepen your relationship with God, and yourself.  Yes, you should know yourself. David writes in Psalm 139:23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. In essence David is asking God to show him anything about himself that God wants to change. Any hidden sin that he is missing, something that David was OK with, but that God has an issue with. Here is an example from my life: I was OK with smoking, but during prayer God kept after me that it wasn't ok with Him, that it caused a barrier between Him and I. It was something I had to give up in my pursuit of righteousness and a closer relationship with God. 

I submit to you that we all have things, secret hidden areas where we dont shine a light, where we need to change and grow. And when we do, God will reveal the next one to us. 

We get saved and stop sleeping around. Then God convicted us about porn, so we stopped that.  Then He started in on foul language,  so we stopped that. Then we felt pretty Holy about ourselves, and He starts in on us about not reading the Word daily. So we do,  then He moves on to not acting all self righteous about doing all of that. Then he convicts us on how we speak to others, being patient and polite. See, God doesn't ask us to fix everything at once,  it would be too much.  He asks us to keep taking steps toward the cross,  steps toward Jesus.  One step at a time,  one day at a time. 

In Arabic, this is the basic meaning of the word 'jihad' (oh Lord I just set off the Feds keyword search program,  here come the men in black). While it's come to mean so much more recently, the Arabic word jihad simply means 'effort'. Effort to search out sin in our lives and sever ties with it. It takes effort and discipline to genuinely search out our own secret sins and behead them.  And then, on to the next shortcoming and change that too, while trying to chop off the Medusa heads growing on stump of the first one. You give up smoking, and think that struggle is done.  Till you give up cussing,  and find the smoking is trying to sneak back in,  and pot smoking is trying to squeeze back through the door with it. [editorial note, yes I did metaphorically mix jihad, beheading, Greek mythology and Christianity in one epic paragraph as a rhetorical device. Stay focused here, I'm neither Muslim nor pluralist]

This year is our year of personal jihad. This year is our year of hunting down sin in ourselves, finding the beam in our eye, and dropping a DEPTH CHARGE on it. 

Depth charges are interesting. They are used to hunt sin, I mean submarines, hiding way below the surface where they can't be seen. Stuff that's hidden from others, but that Jesus sees. Stuff that prevents things from going well in other areas of your life.  You may not even see them as connected until you kill the hidden sin off, and some other area of your life is affected. You stop smoking, and then realize that it improved your marriage because your wife sees it as you having a sincere desire to change,  and wants to reward you. It's kind of the same way an enemy submarine might not be doing anything bad when it's caught in the middle of the ocean, but can go on to sink ships elsewhere. 

Depth charges aren't a one and done proposition. Hunting sin, I mean submarines, generally requires dropping hundreds of depth charges over a long period of time as the sin,  I mean submarine,  snakes about under the surface trying to avoid detection. It takes no time at all to form a bad habit, but it takes waging energetic jihad with great personal and spiritual effort to break a bad habit. But Jesus is on your side. The first step is identifying, finding and admitting the beam in your eye and Jesus can take it from there. Mostly that beam has been there a while, and yet you never saw it, even though others around you have. They may never have said anything about it.  Or they may have been trying to tell you over and over again, and you just wouldn't listen. 

If you have trouble finding bad habits or hidden sin,  just ask your wife. I'm sure she can give you a direction to look in lol. Or ask the bros that you have been growing depth with over the last year. Then take those things to Jesus in honest and open prayer.  Be willing to admit what you've see as a splinter or even a nothing, is in fact a beam. Start strategizing how to begin droppimg depth charges on it. 

Or start with the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5. Do you feel love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and long suffering? If not, take that to God in prayer. As the Germans might have said, He has ways to make you talk.  Or walk. My prayer is that God will keep me humble patient and wise. When I started praying that, He started giving me opportunities to learn life lessons along those lines. Maybe you need that too, those qualities are in short supply in his world. 

Finally, ask yourself the Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club Four Questions:

1. What is the voice of God telling you to be obedient about? If you don't hear Him talking,  that's an issue in and of itself.  We must be sensitive to the guiding of the Holy Spirit. 

2. Why is He saying it?  Why do you keep feeling conviction about something that you might have thought was OK before. Knowing the heart of God is critical to choosing to change. 

3. What is the biblical example? Search the Scriptures, there is always someone that's gone through what you have. 

4. What are you doing to change it? 

Things are growing and changing in the world,  and in Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club. In 2015 we men must grow and change too. Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

James Disciple Johnson 
Natl President and Founder 
Disciple Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club 

DEPTH CHARGE 2015 http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/depth-charge-2015.html

What it Means to be Spiritual

What does it mean to be spiritual? If you hang around some churches through observation you might get the idea that being spiritual means singing the loudest in church. Or perhaps parking your pickup truck as close to the pastors as possible. Or maybe it means sitting on the front row, wearing the nicest suit, or being the one selected to teach Sunday school once a month? Perhaps it means saying God bless you the loudest, or saying Amen every time the pastor stops for a breath?

If you've been through any kind of higher education you'll know that a byproduct of that can be a certain arrogance, that you know more, are smarter, or better than someone else. Because I've been through both Baptist and Pentecostal Bible colleges, I've seen that the same applies to Christian education. There is a certain amount of of pride that goes along with being able to say hermeneutics and exegesis, or properly knowing how to use a Strong's Concordance. And all these things are good, they are tools, but they in themselves are just knowledge, and the pride and vanity that can come from them do not cause spirituality. 

This is what Paul refers to when he writes 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Can. Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t talk to you like spiritual people but like unspiritual people, like babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink instead of solid food, because you weren’t up to it yet. Now you are still not up to it because you are still unspiritual. When jealousy and fighting exist between you, aren’t you unspiritual and living by human standards?

Being spiritual is simple stuff, it's laid out pretty clearly in the scripture. Galatians 5:22-24 NASB But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. BAM! There it is! 

No amount of human effort can cause you to be genuinely spiritual or have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Only time spent sowing to the Holy Spirit through prayer, fasting, reading the Word of God, and spending time alone in your prayer closet on your face can cause you to exhibit these fruits. 

When you run into a truly spiritual person, it will be obvious. They will have joy and peace, their words will come through with joy and peace. They will have patience gentleness and self control, you'll know it when you see it. Their Facebook page will be the same way,  not angry rants and bitterness.

It's easy to run into people in church who are not spiritual. Galatians 5:19-21 also gives us an illustration of what they act like. Selfish motives, doing whatever feels good, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, jealousy.  Paul says: I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom. 

Do you see these things in yourself or those around you: fighting, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, jealousy? The only way to beat it is through time spent in the Word, with prayer and fasting. Nothing else works. 

As we spend time with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we become more like him. That's just common sense, we act like who we spend time with.

God bless you! 
James Disciple Johnson 
Natl President and Founder 
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club 

What it Means to be Spiritual http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-it-means-to-be-spiritual.html

Spiritual Warfare Prayer Challenge

Father in the name of Jesus I plead the blood of Jesus for forgiveness of my sins, and those of my brothers. I ask your Holy Spirit to bring conviction to me and my brothers regarding sin in our life. I pray that we will live a life of holiness, and that you will protect and bless us in every way because of our desire to live for you.

Father in the name of Jesus I come against and bind all spiritual forces arrayed against Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club. I have faith in your word that no weapon formed against us shall prosper, that includes negative speech, unforgiveness, jealousy, and those with hard hearts against your club.

I pray a blessing over all bikers especially those in the motorcycle club community. I ask for favor in the eyes of those who make decisions, make them friendly and receptive to our message. I ask you to supernaturally open doors that never would have been opened before, that those in positions of power will contact us without us having to go to them.

I pray that you will open the hearts of each person in Disciple, and every biker leader in the community, to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, and be receptive to his leading. I join together in agreement with my brothers, that you can make a way where there seems to be no way. You are all powerful, the Creator of all that we see and know, and you are able!

I pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus, before whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord!
AMEN!

James Disciple Johnson
Natl President and Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club

Spiritual Warfare Prayer Challenge  http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/spiritual-warfare-prayer-challenge.html

Sowing to the Spirit

YOU NEED TO READ THIS.

1 Cor 3:1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?

Brothers, I can not address most Christians as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly. I literally give up sometimes as i listen to them speak.

Disciple Christian MC needs you, and me, to be spiritual men. I cannot emphasize this enough. Time on our faces before God. Time in the Word, considering and meditating what it says. Time in prayer. Time growing before God. Fasting and praying, listening to praise and worship music.

Men, im not looking for you to be inspired by me. I started this club so you could inspire me, and other men. God, the struggles that i have. Who am i to inspire anyone? I started this so people could help me through my dark times. I wonder sometimes at how few of us are truly spiritual. Are we praying daily for a blessing on our leaders? Are we praying for each other?

Spirituality isnt some high falutin talking and acting. Its SPENDING TIME WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD in meditation and prayer. You become like who you are around. Because we arent around the Spirit of God very much through fasting, prayer and worship, we DONT SOUND LIKE CHRISTIANS WHEN WE SPEAK. We sound like the world. We talk about our jobs, our families, our motorcycles.

Im so sorry to say that i see so little of the Holy Spirit in the church. So little true Spirituality. So little speech (from me included) that indicates men who are truly plugged into the Almighty Throne of Grace.
Our success isnt measured in how much this club grows. Our success isnt in being more spiritual than some other club is. Do we want to grow in numbers and across this country, or do we want to grow in the Spirit?

Gal 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Sow to the Spirit. Read the Word. Pray on your face before Almighty God. Sing praise and worship music instead of the crap music of the enemy. Fast, live a life of fasting. Sow to the Spirit. For us to grow as men, this is necessary.

Even if you dont FEEL anything magical when you are reading your word, praying on your face, listening to praise and worship music, and fasting, DO IT ANYWAY.

James Disciple Johnson
Natl President and Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club

Sowing to the Spirit http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/sowing-to-spirit.html

You Too Can Beat Anxiety

If one spends more time with Jesus, one starts to sound like Him, and ones Facebook page starts to look like Him. When one doesnt, one starts to sound like the world and their Facebook page becomes about them, and how much they hate politicians and various other religions or religious leaders. Spend some time with Jesus today, and follow the Word about praying for your leaders and the lost. Because we know where the World is going,  and you don't want to go there. We know you by your fruit, and your Facebook news stream is part of your fruit. 

Love, joy,  peace,  patience, kindness,  long-suffering, if there is any good thing, anything beautiful, anything worthy of praise, think on these things and the God of Peace with give you some peace. 

And then ignore all the angry racist hate mongering lies that masquerade as news on TV and focus on the beautiful face of the Saviour. 

Jesus isn't concerned about Democrats, Republicans, Muslims, Joel Osteen or any of that. He's concerned about YOU loving Him, and YOU loving others. That's where changing the world starts,  love. God is love. Now you go be love too.

James Disciple Johnson
Natl President and Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club

You Too Can Beat Anxiety  http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/you-too-can-beat-anxiety.html

Showing the Love of Jesus through Arguments and Name Calling

Lets begin a war between the Catholics, supporters of Joel Osteen, protestants, evangelicals, pentecostal, Kenneth Hagin supporters, church of God, church of God in Christ, church of Jesus, Seventh day adventist, Southern Baptist, freewill Baptist, independent Baptist, bapticostol, non denominational, and the guys with the snakes. Then when the last guy is left standing he can stand there alone on the dead bodies of the believers he has vanquished, and congratulate himself on how right he was and how wrong they were, and wonder why the attack of the enemy is so hard on him. Especially since he himself is the good Lord's vanguard of doctrine and all.

Don't get me wrong, doctrine matters. And when we see the Antichrist we should point him out. But your brother who goes to a church with a different sign isn't the Antichrist. I must be more concerned about loving others than arguing with them in vanity to prove how much I know, and how well I can use words like hermeneutics and exegesis in a sentence.

I say we give up on dumb arguments about words and get to calling, praying for and ministering to the brothers.  There is a lot of work to be done and a lot of hurting brothers. Serious men of God are too busy in the Word and helping others to be distracted by name calling over how many Angels can dance on the head of a pin. I believe we can dive into building up others, because honestly God or the devil will tear down anything built on sand. 

Remind your people of this, and give them a solemn warning in God's presence not to fight over words. It does no good, but only ruins the people who listen. Keep away from profane and foolish discussions, which only drive people further away from God. But keep away from foolish and ignorant arguments; you know that they end up in quarrels. As the Lord's servant, you must not quarrel. You must be kind towards all, a good and patient teacher, gentle as you correct your opponents, for it may be that God will give them the opportunity to repent and come to know the truth. And then they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the Devil, who had caught them and made them obey his will.
2 Timothy 2:14, 16, 23-26 GNB

James Disciple Johnson
Natl President and Founder
Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club

Showing the Love of Jesus through Arguments and Name Calling http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/showing-love-of-jesus-through-arguments.html

Do Not Despise Prophetic Utterances

Prophecy at its essence is speaking words that bring other people closer to Christ. I'm blessed to be surrounded by a bunch of men who challenge me on a regular basis. Who is speaking into your life? Who's there to challenge you when you get off track? Are you listening, or at least giving prayerful consideration to prophecy? Being in church is important, but it's important to have godly people who know your struggles, and aren't afraid to biblically get in your business.

Each man does what he thinks is right, but sometimes we need people to put us in our place, lovingly, spiritually, biblically. Sometimes we get off, and we need people to help us get back on track. Men who can see us past our church face, and question us because they know we haven't been in the word, just from hearing us talk. 

And honestly if our prayer time wasn't so much about barraging the throne with our requests, and was more about silent time to listen to the Holy Spirit, we wouldn't need prophetic people in our lives. Thanks be to God that there are people who are not only listening for themselves, but listening to what the Spirit is telling them about us. People who are willing to stand up and take the flak they get when they challenge others spiritually. 

Prophetic speech follows the flow of the Holy Spirit, it's not condemnation and criticism, it's not judgemental, its loving, caring, gentle, patient, and convicting. It's carefully presented. Think of how God spoke in the garden, he didn't come running down with a stick and start demanding to know why they had broken the rules. He simply asked 'where are you?'

If you feel that God is giving you a word for someone, be careful. Consider how to speak to them perfectly. Consider how to deliver the message so that they will most benefit from it. Consider the timing, and your tone. But most importantly make sure that you're in line with Scripture, and that you've clearly heard from God. Prophecy isn't negative or hateful speech, its loving speech spoken to bring people into the fold, into repentance, closer into the arms of our loving Saviour. 

If you receive a prophetic word, or if someone comes to you out of love with a biblical concern, carefully weigh and consider what they're saying. Not everything a Christian says is biblically sound or correct. However we have a responsibility to God to at least go to him and compare notes, and humbly check our selves. If what they are saying is off, you will know. Be gentle in correcting them. If what they are saying is on, it's time to take action. Thank them for the word and let them know the Holy Spirit has confirmed it, even if that takes a while.

Prophecy has become a lost gift, because we so often bristle with anger when anybody corrects us. It can be a very difficult life for somebody with a prophetic gift, seeing what God is showing them, but being afraid to step up and speak it. However we must hone our gifts,  and use hem as the Father directs. Even when it's hard... 

Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.  1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 NASB

James Disciple Johnson 

Natl President and Founder 

Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club 

Do Not Despise Prophetic Utterances http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/do-not-despise-prophetic-utterances.html

Why I Ignore Critical Negative People

Ignore critical negative people. Even if they quote scripture and try to sound hyper spiritual. The Holy Spirit of Truth isn't critical. He uses conviction, but never derision. When you hear that,  you are hearing the enemy, speaking through someone who doesn't even know they are his mouthpiece. Ignore them and they will fade away.

You will know them by their fruits, and the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, long-suffering etc. Not anger derision criticism condemnation, fault findng, offense, annoyance. That's a spirit operating in those people too, and you can rebuke it. But don't get into it with them them, or it will jump off on you. Love them, pray for them, and realize they are hurting.

You need to save this post. When you start getting into online arguments,  come back and read it.  You aren't struggling with flesh and blood,  it's not that person. It's powers,  principalities, powers, spiritual warfare.  Proceed accordingly, with prayer and the power of the Holy Ghost.

These people are suffering. Shame would rather point out your faults than face it's own. Critical spirits criticise themselves worse than they do you, it's just an overflow of their pain when they come after you. Fault finding spirits have magnifies their own faults and are under the constant condemnation of the enemy, they are just repeating what's going on in their head when they start condemning you. Theives always suspect someone is stealing from them, liars think you are lying to them, name callers call you the names they've labelled themselves, fault finders live in a big hole of misery.

You have the light.  You know the Way,  the Truth,  the Life. Don't be brought down by the darkness,  rather shine light,  love and kindness.  When you feel your ire rise, it's time to pray for them.

Why I Ignore Critical Negative People http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/why-i-ignore-critical-negative-people.html